I didn't think this was as strong as O'Nan's other books, but stuck with it as a foundation to reading Emily, Alone, a sequel, which seems to be better reviewed.It was hard to like the characters and a lot of it was mundane. There were a lot of individual characters and their story lines to keep up with it, but none of them were particularly compelling.After a while, the effort of staying with the book meshed with the idea of this family on vacation in a smallish cottage with rain and life disappointments to deal with, and then I got into it more. I kept waiting for some big development, but none ever came. The side story of the missing girl from the gas station was odd -- I think this was a story he really wanted to work with, and ended up doing in another book, Songs for the Missing.